During the recent food crisis, developing countries responded with a wide variety of policy
responses to protect their population. Understanding the policy-making process in developing
countries is important to know why such policy responses are made and how various actors
and players shape up and influence the policy decision-making. In this paper we develop a
framework for analysing the policy process in developing countries and apply it to study the
food policy process during the food price crisis in selected countries. A synthesis of policy
process analysis in 14 developing countries indicate that policy responses may differ
depending on the nature and magnitude of roles of various types of actors and players in the
policy process. Political institutions and organizational infrastructure for policy consultations,
strategic analysis, knowledge management and monitoring, and timely warning of food crisis
and its impact can determine the policy process and its outcomes. Several lessons for
improving the policy process are derived from the country studies.
Blessing M. Chiripanhura and Miguel Nińo-Zarazúa - May 2013
The food price crisis revealed contradictions in creating food policy. Much of the common
policy response can be explained by a benevolent, unitary government. To understand the
variance between countries, however, requires understanding fractured government decisionmaking,
path dependency, and institutional constraints. Governments’ relationships with the
private sector are very complex. They reveal both the firms’ lobbying successes as well as
how the deep distrust between private and public sectors lead to perverse policy incentives
and unintended consequences that undermine intended outcomes. Decision makers’ private
interests and riot prevention played significant roles in selected cases, but were not leading
factors overall.
Jikun Huang, Jun Yang, and Scott Rozelle - April 2013
The food crisis of 2008 in Nigeria was influenced by price changes in the world market and
the escalation of the price of imported fuel into Nigeria which led to sharp increases in the
prices of agricultural inputs and transportation cost. The soaring prices of food staples
benefited the producers whereas there was a worsening of malnutrition among the poor. To
cushion the effects within the short-term, the government released grains from the reserve,
ordered the import of half a million tonnes of rice to be sold at a subsidized rate and
suspended the tariff on rice imports. The policy measures adopted caused a reversal of the
trend of food price increase within six months, generated awareness about the nutritional
importance of major food staples, and led to changes in preferences in the demand for food
commodities and stimulated increased financing for commercial agriculture. The short-term
price reduction could not be sustained, however, due to food supply shortages, weakness of
the Nigerian currency, and the poor implementation of projects.
From Foreign Policy
Don't blame American appetites, rising oil prices, or genetically
modified crops for rising food prices. Wall Street's at fault for the
spiraling cost of food.
Demand and supply certainly
matter. But there's another reason why food across the world has become
so expensive: Wall Street greed.
It took the brilliant minds of Goldman Sachs to realize the simple
truth that nothing is more valuable than our daily bread. And where
there's value, there's money to be made. In 1991, Goldman bankers, led
by their prescient president Gary Cohn, came up with a new kind of
investment product, a derivative that tracked 24 raw materials, from
precious metals and energy to coffee, cocoa, cattle, corn, hogs, soy,
and wheat.
They weighted the investment value of each element, blended and
commingled the parts into sums, then reduced what had been a
complicated collection of real things into a mathematical formula that
could be expressed as a single manifestation, to be known henceforth as
the Goldman Sachs Commodity Index (GSCI)...
Today, the world produces enough to feed all seven billion of its
inhabitants – but nearly a billion people still go without. This paper
is about why this global scandal continues, and what can be done to
solve it. Its central argument is that access to food is as important
as how much food is produced – and that in a world of food price
volatility, climate change and other kinds of shocks and stresses, the
challenge of building resilience in the food system takes on
overwhelming importance.
Section One of the paper looks at what needs to happen within
developing countries, focusing, in particular, on a massive scale-up in
provision of social protection systems that target the poorest and most
vulnerable people...
Section Two of the paper turns to action that needs to be taken
internationally – above all to tackle the sharp increase in food price
volatility of recent years...
Section Three focuses on ways of easing current tightness in the global
supply and demand balance for food through policies to reduce demand.
While policymakers are right to focus on increasing food production, a
range of factors – including climate change, water scarcity,
competition for land, energy security issues and falling rates of crop
yield growth – suggest that this may not be easy...
Finally, Section Four explores how this agenda can be put into
practice...
IN HIS 1981 essay, “Poverty and Famines”, Amartya Sen, an
Indian economist, argued that the 1943 Bengal famine, in which 3m
people died, was not caused by any exceptional fall in the harvest and
pointed out that food was still being exported from the state while
millions perished. He concluded that the main reason for famines is not
a shortage of basic food. Other factors—wages, distribution, even
democracy—matter more.
In
1996 the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)
estimated that the world was producing enough food to provide every
man, woman and child with 2,700 calories a day, several hundred more
than most adults are thought to need (around 2,100 a day). The Lancet,
a medical journal, reckons people need no more than 90 grammes of meat
a day. On average they eat more than that now. As Abhijit Banerjee of
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology says, “we live in a world
that is capable of feeding every person that lives on the planet.”
Changing governance
patterns in European food chains: the rise of a new divide between
global players and regional producers
F. Palpacuer and S. Tozanli - 2003
This article traces general trends in European food markets and the
strategies of leading firms in selected European food chains (milk,
sugar,
cereals, meat). The analysis highlights the emergence of a growing
divide
between the largest downstream firms on the one hand and specialty and
upstream producers on the other. The former have adopted globalization
and financialization strategies over the past decade and promoted
global
sourcing under the deregulated conditions of European primary food
and agricultural markets while the latter remain anchored in national
or
regional markets and production systems. Implications of these findings
for both Global Value Chain (GVC) analysis and European policy are discussed.
From The World Bank Group - April 2008
'7 Lost Years' - The Effect
of Rising Food Prices on Poverty
WASHINGTON,
April 11, 2008 - World Bank President Robert Zoellick warned
today of the threat posed by rising food prices world-wide.
Zoellick he stressed that food prices would be at the top of the
agenda, and that the international community must make agriculture a
priority.
Brandishing a sack of rice to make his point, World Bank president
Robert Zoellick told reporters in Washington that rice prices have
jumped 75% globally…and that’s in the last two months.
In Bangladesh, a 2 kilogram bag of rice now costs half of a family’s
daily income. And the price of rice is likely to rise again.
From the World Bank
Development Committee - 2008 Rising food
prices: Policy
options and World Bank response
The rising
trend in international food prices continued, and even accelerated, in
2008.U.S.
wheat export prices rose from $375/ton in January to $440/ton in March,
and
Thai rice export prices increased from $365/ton to $562/ton. This came
on top
of a 181 percent increase in global wheat prices over the 36 months
leading up
to February 2008, and a 83 percent increase in overall global food
prices over
the same period
Increased
bio-fuel production has contributed to the rise in food prices.
Concerns
over oil prices, energy security and climate change have prompted
governments
to take a more proactive stance towards encouraging production and use
of
bio-fuels. This has led to increased demand for bio-fuel raw materials,
such
as wheat, soy, maize and palm oil, and increased competition for
cropland. Almost
all of the increase in global maize production from 2004 to 2007 (the
period
when grain prices rose sharply) went for bio-fuels production in the
U.S.,
while existing stocks were depleted by an increase in global
consumption for
other uses. Other developments, such as droughts in Australia
and poor crops in the E.U. and Ukraine
in 2006 and 2007, were largely offset by good crops and increased
exports in
other countries and would not, on their own, have had a significant
impact on
prices. Only a relatively small share of the increase in food
production prices
(around 15%) is due directly to higher energy and fertilizer costs.
Numerous countries have set standards or targets for use
of bio-fuels. The E.U. has set a goal of 5.75 percent of motor fuel use
from
bio-fuels by 2010. The U.S.
has mandated the use of 28.4 billion liters of bio-fuels for
transportation by
2012. Brazil will require
that all diesel oil contain 2 percent bio-diesel by 2008 and 5 percent
by 2013,
and Thailand will require 10 percent ethanol in all gasoline starting
in 2007. India mandates a 5 percent ethanol blend in nine
states, and China is requiring a 10 percent ethanol blend in five
provinces.
From 2004 to 2007, global maize
production increased 51 million tons, biofuel use in the U.S. increased
50 million tons and
global consumption for all other uses increased 33 million tons, which
caused
global stocks to decline by 30 million tons.
This note is being distributed for information as background to the
discussion of recent market developments at the Development Committee
meeting. It
was prepared by PREM, ARD and DEC, drawing from work across
the Bank. Questions/comments should be addressed to Ana Revenga, PRMPR
(ext.
89850).
From
the International Food Policy Research Institute
Washington, D. C., U.S.A. The
World Food Situation: new driving forces and required actions
J. von Braun - December 2007
The world food situation is currently being rapidly redefined
by new driving forces. Income growth, climate change, high
energy prices, globalization, and urbanization are
transforming food consumption, production, and markets.The
influence of the private sector in the world food system,
especially the leverage of food retailers, is also rapidly
increasing. Changes in food availability, rising commodity
prices, and new producer– consumer linkages have crucial
implications for the livelihoods of poor and food-insecure
people. Analyzing and interpreting recent trends and emerging
challenges in the world food situation is essential in order
to provide policymakers with the necessary information to
mobilize adequate responses at the local, national, regional,
and international levels. It is also critical for helping to
appropriately adjust research agendas in agriculture,
nutrition, and health. Not surprisingly, renewed global
attention is being given to the role of agriculture and food
in development policy, as can be seen from the World Bank’s
World Development Report, accelerated public action in African
agriculture under the New Partnership for Africa’s
Development (NEPAD), and the Asian Development Bank’s recent
initiatives for more investment in agriculture, to name just a
few examples.
Contents:
Acknowledgments - The World Food Equation, Rewritten - Outlook
on Global Food Scarcity and Food-Energy Price Links - Poverty
and the Food and Nutrition Situation - Conclusions - Notes - References
Tables:
1. China: Per capita annual household consumption
2. Change in food-consumption quantity, ratios 2005/1990
3. Expected impacts of climate change on global cereal
production
4. Consumption spending response (%) when prices change by 1%
(“elasticity”)
5. Changes in world prices of feedstock crops and sugar by
2020 under two scenarios compared with baseline levels (%)
6. Net cereal exports and imports for selected countries
(three-year averages 2003–2005)
7. Purchases and sales of staple foods by the poor (% of total
expenditure of all poor)
8. Expected number of undernourished in millions,
incorporating the effects of climate change
By Eric Holt-Gimenez, Ph.D., Miguel A. Altieri, Ph.D., and Peter
Rosset, Ph.D.
...1. The Green Revolution actually deepens the divide between rich and
poor farmers. In the
1960s, at the beginning of the first Green Revolution, the Rockefeller
and Ford Foundations
promoted industrial-style agriculture in the Global South through
technology “packages”
that included modern varieties (MVs), fertilizer, pesticides, and
irrigation. The high cost of
these purchased inputs deepened the divide between large farmers and
smallholders because
the latter could not afford the technology. In both Mexico and India,
seminal studies revealed
that the Green Revolution’s expensive “packages” favored a minority of
economically
privileged farmers, put the majority smallholders at a disadvantage,
and led to the
concentration of land and resources...
The "EC/FAO Programme on Linking Information and
Decision Making to Improve Food Security”, is based at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
(FAO) and funded by the European Union’s “Food Security Thematic Programme (FSTP)”. Its
overall aim is to:
- improve the quantity and quality of food security information and
analysis; and
- promote its use in decision making processes.
Learning Center
The Learning Center offers self-paced e-learning courses on a wide
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